ANALYSIS | Newt Gingrich, the GOP frontrunner heading into the Iowa caucus, is losing his lead in Iowa, and fellow candidate Ron Paul is closing in behind him, the AFP Tuesday reported. Voters might be realizing what PolitiFact already knows: Paul tells the truth more than twice as often as Gingrich.
PolitiFact, an independent, nonpartisan fact-checking website, is owned and run by the Poynter Institute, a non-profit school for journalism. As the Iowa caucus nears, Gingrich’s record on truth might be hurting him. PolitiFact rated nearly 60 percent of Gingrich’s statements as Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire, a designation it saves for truly ridiculous claims. Ron Paul’s number, 36 percent, is much smaller.
Gingrich earned the smoking trousers for 18 percent of statements rated by PolitiFact, compared to just 7 percent for Paul. Broadly speaking, this means that Gingrich is wrong on six out of every ten claims he makes, and he’s telling a whopper once in five.
Here’s how the numbers break down for Newt Gingrich versus Ron Paul. The statistics were collected on the evening of Dec. 13, but may change if PolitiFact adds a new claim.
Newt Gingrich – wrong nearly 60 percent of the time
PolitiFact analyzed 33 statements made by Newt Gingrich.
- True or Mostly True: 6 out of 33, or 18 percent
- Half-true: 8 out of 33, or 24 percent
- Mostly False, False, Pants on Fire: 19, or 58 percent
- Pants on Fire: 6 out of 33, or 18 percent
Ron Paul – More truthful, less fire in pants
PolitiFact analyzed 28 statements made by Ron Paul.
- True or Mostly True: 14 out of 28, or 50 percent
- Half-true: 4 out of 28, or 14 percent
- Mostly False, False, Pants on Fire: 10 out of 28, or 36 percent
- Pants on Fire: 2 out of 28, or 7 percent
Well, yeah, but what about Obama?
PolitiFact analyzed 330 statements made by Barack Obama.
- True or Mostly True: 154 out of 330, or 47 percent
- Half-true: 79 out of 330, or 24 percent
- Mostly False, False, Pants on Fire: 97 out of 330, or 29 percent
- Pants on Fire: 4 out of 330, or one-tenth of one percent (0.1 percent)
So what does it all mean?
Voters who want a truthful GOP candidate should choose Ron Paul over Newt Gingrich. Mitt Romney ties Paul for getting it wrong, but Paul trumps Romney 50 percent to 40 percent for getting things right.
Voters interested in truthfulness and accuracy regardless of party affiliation should choose Obama instead. Obama is neck-and-neck with Paul for getting things right (47 percent vs. 50 percent, a statistical tie given the sample sizes), but where Obama really shines is in not getting things wrong. Paul is wrong 36 percent of the time, compared to 29 percent for Obama, and Paul tells a whopper 7 percent of the time compared to less than one percent for Obama.
Is there anyone less truthful than Gingrich?
Yes. Michele Bachmann gets it wrong or mostly wrong 73 percent of the time. Glenn Beck is at 65 percent, and Rush Limbaugh comes in at 77 percent.
aca cerebral palsy hiv the temptations aardvark eve online klm